Update

Since my last entry I have been hiking a couple of times. The weather in the Atlanta has been warm and humid and we have been having some thunder storms, too. I have thought about just not going then, but what will I do when I get to Scotland? There will be showers unless the weather is very unusual for that area. So, I have gone anyway. I have only gotten a tad damp the last two times as the storms seem to have skirted around me.

My feet seem to adjusting to the boots well. When I am hiking and I think about them they seem a tiny bit short. But if I am not thinking about them I don't notice. The rest of my body seems to be adjusting to the distance and difficulty. I am breathing less hard and enjoying the hikes more. Legs and hips are tightening up. Feels good. I am thinking about increasing my distance. Since I am maintaining about a 20 minute mile (still doing 3.7 mile loop in 70 minutes). I may just double back on a trail to increase the time to 80 minutes would have me hiking 4 miles. I would have done that today had it not been raining. Oh, and I took pictures today that I will post withing the next day or two. The thought came today again that I do need to have a schedule of what I will have accomplished by when to work towards. Just a thought.... hehe

Today I saw the largest doe I have seen on these trails. I also saw the biggest snake I have ever seen in Georgia. I have seen much larger snakes, just not in GA. It was a black snake about four feet long. The last half of him was stretched out into the trail as he was headed into the woods. My fear for the snake was that someone might come along who was afraid of snakes and would kill him. So, I gently made my presence known with the intent that he would hurry along into the woods. I was surprised when he coiled up to strike. Then I was worried. He was far enough away from me that I was not is striking distance. I assumed he was just a regular old black snake and then I wasn't sure. He did not have rattlers. When my prodding did nothing but have him continue to be in a striking position, I left. The snake was out of the direct path and a woman who came up behind me would not have seen him if I had not pointed him out, so I guess I succeeded in my intention. I didn't remember until later that I had my camera with me and could have taken his picture. Too bad.